The most common of the Yu surnames are 于, 余, and 俞. In China, 0.62% of the population have the family name 于 in 2002 (about 7.4 million), and this surname is most common in Shandong province and northeastern China.[1] Around 0.41% of the population have the surname 余 in 2002 (over five million), and it is most common in Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces.[2] The 俞 surname represents around 0.12% of China's population.

Yu (余) is a typical name in the southern area of China. Its place of origin of this name is thought to be in the area of Fengxiang (鳳翔) to Xianyang (咸陽) in Shaanxi. The Yu moved and settled in the She County (歙縣) in Anhui. During this period, the Yu became a prominent clan in the prefecture of Xin An (新安郡), Luoyang. Because of the war in the north at that time, they moved to the south, to places like Hunan and Hubei. After the Han Dynasty, the surname became quite well-spread in the southern China, less so in northern China. Many of the Yu moved into counties like Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Jiangxi in southern China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.[3] After the Tang Dynasty the surname became widespread and very well known in the southeast area of China. At this point they moved into other places like Fujian and Guangdong.

During the Spring and Autumn period of China, there was an court physician of the Qin state known as You Yu (由余). His descendents used the surnames You (由) or Yu (余).[4]

Yu (Chinese: 俞; pinyin: Yú) is said to have been derived as a term used by medical practitioners Yu (腧) since the time of The Yellow Emperor. The two words are closely related and the family name was change from Yu (腧) to Yu (俞).

According to Chinese legend, Yu (Chinese: 虞; pinyin: Yú) is an ancient surname in China. The ancestors of the surname were closely linked with the ancient sage-king named Yu Shun. When Yu Shun was getting old, he took his initiative to hand over the state power to Da Yu. Da Yu granted Yu Shun's son Shang Jun (商均) the Yu kingdom (虞国, now in Yucheng, Henan Province). Later, the descendents of Shang Jun took the name of the kingdom as their surname.

This page lists people with the surnameYu. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.